Greenwich Free Press (https://greenwichfreepress.com/tag/tom-heagney/)
Attorney Heagney warned developers could bypass the town’s 6-110 regulation in favor of Connecticut’s state affordable housing statute 8-30g.
“If you are going to discourage developers from using 6-110 in this fashion, then generally the developments will become larger because there is no point of working within the local regulation when you have a state statute that deals with it differently,” Heagney said. Continue Reading →
P&Z commission chair Alban and attorney Tim Hollister disagreed on whether 8-30g can include retail.
Ms Alban said the history of the site was car dealership.
“You have not had retail, unless you consider a car dealership retail, which we don’t.”
“Car dealerships have a retail component. You can buy your antifreeze there,” Hollister said.
“The use isn’t classified by most towns as a retail use,” Alban said. Continue Reading →
Commissioner Nick Macri referred to a proposed “socioeconomic bifurcation” as “a return to days gone by.” Continue Reading →
Commissioner Dennis Yeskey shared concern about having two buildings – one with mostly the affordable units and one with mostly luxury condos. He said that posed an issue of equity for residents. Continue Reading →
The commission said they were unsure that existing legal non-conformities would carry over to a new development because while non-conformities travel with a property, when 9 properties are merged, the legal non-conformities might cease to exist. There were also concerns about the optics of developing affordable housing on a contaminated site. Continue Reading →
The P&Z commission noted that while 8-30g waived regs on setbacks for residential, it says nothing about commercial. The application includes retail in both buildings. There were still concerns about a condo building separate from affordable building, as well as height and mass. Continue Reading →
The 217-bed Greenwich Woods skilled nursing home would be replaced with a five-story, 215 unit, 394 bedroom, 8-30g affordable housing development with 30% of the units designated “affordable.” Of concern for the P&Z commission was the property’s sewer is provided from Westchester County who calculated the new development would exceed the agreed of 50,000 gallons per day. Also its 2064 expiration might come before the 40 year deed restriction for the 8-30g affordable units. Continue Reading →
The commission approved the application to expand the parking by 61 parking spaces for a new total of 179 spaces, including 9 handicapped spaces, which is more parking than is required. Continue Reading →
Discussion touched on pedestrian and vehicular safety, as well as the relevance of environmental remediation at 315 Milbank Ave scheduled for summer 2024. Continue Reading →
“We have no approval authority. We are relying on Greenwich to make the appropriate decisions for the future of this project.” – Adam Kaufman, Director of Planning, North Castle, NY Continue Reading →